Yachting: Blair McLay snatches 'junior Olympics' Laser championship

Blair McLay edged out Frederico Melo of Portugal by a solitary point at the Laser Radial world youth championships. Picture / L. C. Moreira

Young Auckland yachtie Blair McLay took a step towards his dream of Olympic gold yesterday when he won the Laser Radial world youth championship in Brazil.

In February McLay made the effort to get out and introduce himself to the media and relay his long-term goal of winning the Laser class at the 2008 Olympics.

Yesterday morning off the coast of Fortaleza, McLay became New Zealand's latest world beater when he edged out Portuguese Frederico Melo by a solitary point.

McLay and Melo had battled for the overall lead during the entire 12-race regatta, often regarded as the junior Olympics.

With eight wins from eight races McLay's seventh and third placings on the penultimate day had handed the advantage back to Melo.

But the Torbay sailor lifted his performance on the final day to record a win before closing with a second.

McLay said he had trained hard the whole year in preparation for the world championship.

"I battled for this victory," he said.

"I was very dedicated. I really hoped to get the main prize. Now I intend to keep training for the next championships and, of course, to [the] 2008 Olympic Games."

In the second to last race both boats crossed at the port end, with McLay covering the left hand side of the course. At the first mark Melo rounded first, with McLay a boat length behind.

In light winds McLay passed Melo on the reach and then stepped on the gas downwind.

On the next upwind he stayed on top and then again extended his lead downwind to win by 40 seconds. With the sailors now tied on 11 points it all came down to the final race.

Melo got between McLay and the wind in the pre-start but McLay broke free with Melo coming again to start directly underneath him.

At the first opportunity McLay tacked away behind several boats with Melo in hot pursuit and the jury not far behind.

As they continued the wind slowly veered, with McLay in a better position than Melo. McLay tacked and had the psychological advantage of crossing Melo, who later said he seemed to run out of speed.

Eighth at the first mark, McLay charged his way up the fleet to finish second to Greece's Antonis Tzortis.

Croatian Ivan Taritas finished third overall, 15 points behind Melo.

Another New Zealander, 17-year-old Aucklander Max Andrews, finished a creditable 11th.

McLay's results throughout the regatta were so good that he was forced to discard a first place as the rules state competitors are allowed to drop only one of their finals' scores in their two discards.

He won all eight of his qualifying races then picked up a seventh, third, first and second in the finals.

McLay's success in Brazil follows in the footsteps of notable New Zealand yachties Russell Coutts, Dean Barker and Chris Dickson, who have all claimed youth world titles.

It also comes on the back of his bronze-medal-winning performance at the Open Laser Radial World Championship, held in the same place in Brazil just before the youth event.

McLay's next major regatta is the Australian Laser National Championship starting just after Christmas, where he will be back in the full-rig Laser and competing with the top senior sailors from New Zealand and Australia.

Aside from McLay the Laser Radial Youth regatta was also a good one for Wellington's Cushla Hume-Merry, who finished as the leading female in the mixed fleet of more than 100 sailors.

Hume-Merry held the for almost the whole week and was delighted with her overall placing of 46th.

"I'm really happy," she said. "I dedicate this victory to my Mum and from now on I want to train more and more."

At 15, Hume-Merry is at least two years younger than the three other females who qualified for the upper tier when the field was split into a gold and a silver fleet over the latter stages.